Requiem
by waterlit
Summary: Toph's pov. This fic occurs after Ozai's defeat. Character death! Toph sings a requiem for her dead friends before joining them in the spirit world. Rated T to be safe. Minor implied Zutara, Sukka and Taang. Oneshot! :D


**Disclaimer: I don't own avatar!**

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[Requeim]

Once again, I am alone in this merciless world. The winds of change are swift, and time does not bother with the laments of a girl. My sightless eyes no longer tear, my rent heart no longer weeps, my earthbending no longer moves rock with force. I am but a silhouette of she formerly known as the blind bandit. More shadow than flesh, more sorrow than joy, I do not know how to walk on.

My true family has left me behind.

Now I walk among the shadows, standing upon a precipice that overlooks a lush valley below. I do not know how lush the valley looks, for my eyes see nothing. I have heard, though, from other travellers who walk this land that this cliff hangs over a beautiful flowery pasture. I can feel the cold fingers of the autumn breeze flit pass me, entangling me in its icy tendrils. Who I am to resist the wind?

The wind howls over this eerie mountain. Perhaps, like me, the wind mourns for her lost friends. Perhaps the wind weeps over her separation from the blazing sun and the frail moon, long sundered by the fleeting clouds that flutter across the sky in an eternal dance. Perhaps. There are so many possibilities. But I can never rise from the ashes of my sorrow again. The pain is just too great. The blind bandit no longer has the will to go on.

How could you all leave me behind alone?

I sink to the ground, sobbing as the sorrow threatens to overwhelm me. I never once expected my friends to leave the way they did. It was so unexpected, so sudden. After the defeat of Ozai I thought that death had become a distant event. Never was I so wrong.

It was barely a month later that the five of them – Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Suki and Aang, were dead, by the hands of loyalist rebels. I was not there with them at that time. Thinking back, I hate myself for not being with them in their last moments. I had no chance to bid them farewell. Fate did not even grant me that last mercy. The five of them, all so alive, so full of ideas, were dead, taken from the world, taken from _me_, unable to enjoy the beauty of life.

Not that I was able to. From the second I heard of their deaths, my heart has died. I no longer find pleasure in living, no matter how nice the flowers smell, no matter how many earthbending tournaments I win; nothing will satisfy me now. Perhaps it was foolish to love those friends.

Parting is anything but sweet sorrow. Where is the sweetness in all the bitter sorrow?

My friends were my life. They taught me how to love. And now they are dead.

I remember them still. We were one big happy family then. Ahh, those days. How I yearn for them to return to me, to ease my loneliness.

Zuko was the father-figure of the group. He was the father I had always hoped to have; he understood me, he taught me, and he protected me from Katara's wrath at times, not that I needed protecting. Katara was the mother; she fussed and worried over everyone, treating each one like her child. I pretended to dislike her mothering, but secretly I wished that she was my real mother. Besides, I knew the two of them were in love. Who better to be the parents of the group? Sokka and Suki were like the older siblings I never had. Sokka teased me, aided me in my various schemes and was great to play tricks on. Suki was like an elder sister; caring, a little naggy, but still protective and loving. And Aang! I saw him as a younger brother at first, though I later came to develop a crush on him.

My family – Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Suki and Aang -- I really miss them! They have long departed, leaving me to walk on, an empty shell, for three long painful years.

Now, I shall join them, but not before I perform the final rites for them. I attended their funerals, yes, but the least i can do is to sing them a requiem before i go to join them.

I will sing them a requiem.

"Lacrimosa dies illa

Qua resurget ex favilla

Judicandus homo reus

Huic ergo parce, Deus:

Pie Jesu Domine,

Dona eis requiem. Amen."

_Atop the lonely cliff a young girl sang, repeating the words of that oft-heard requiem over and over again, till her voice, hoarse from singing, gave out. Even then, she continued to whisper the words continuously. From dawn till dusk she sang, broken voice ringing out over the empty valleys, the mournful lyrics echoing eerily around the land. _

At midnight, during the darkest hour of the day, I stop singing. Standing up, I make my way to the edge of the cliff. Without a word, I fall forwards, allowing the wind to catch me and take me gently to my death. As I fall, I know no one will sing a requiem for me.

As I hurtle down, closeted in the wind's comforting embrace, I whisper my last words.

"Tearful that day, which will rise from the ashes, guilty man for judgment. So have mercy, O Lord, on this man. Compassionate Spirits, grant them rest. I am glad to meet my friends at long last. My family, here I come!"

_The young girl toppled off the cliff, falling into the flowery depths below. There she lay forever in sweet slumber, eyes never opening again to feel the light of day. __In later days it was recorded that a ghost resided there, for the echoes of her sorrowful, heartrending requiem continued to echo in the land, through time and space. Her lament for her family, caught up by the sympathizing wind, was repeated forevermore in that desolated land of beauty, even as she lay in eternal rest._

_No one ever went there; no one ever claimed her body, nor dug her a grave, nor sung a requiem for her. Yet the smile on her peaceful face told the animals that flitted past that she was truly at rest, reunited with her friends at long last in the spirit world. _

_Sometimes, the wind passing would pay her respects to the blind girl. _

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"Lacrimosa dies illa

Qua resurget ex favilla

Judicandus homo reus

Huic ergo parce, Deus:

Pie Jesu Domine,

Dona eis requiem. Amen."

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A/N: This is from Toph's pov. Yeah i know this doesn't exist in the storyline, but yeah. I got inspiration for this from an episode of the D. Gray-Man anime (the episode "Sing Me A Lullaby" -- the episode's really sad D:) Yeah there was this doll that kept singing this requiem over and over again, so i kind of thought about writing this. The Lacrimosa requiem is in some language i don't know, so i just took the wikipedia translation for Toph to use. So yeah. Her last words aren't very poetic, i know. And haha if you don't like reading death fics i understand, cause i don't like them very much either. They make me feel like crying D: So anyway, thanks for reading! ;D


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